Holiday Light

Time for a holiday break!

Wishing you spectacular light and

 wonderful holiday moments with friends and family!!!

See you again in the New Year.

Comments are off today.

Winter Curves

Snow is gently falling today.

Looks like a great day to try out my camera's new Storm Jacket (link), (link).

This "jacket" is sure to beat my camera's usual wet weather cover -

a plastic bag...

 which qualifies as ridiculous!!! 

Hope you're enjoying the beauty of the season,

wherever you live.

Comments are off as I'm busy with family,

 festivities, and fun.

Before...

Before the heavy rains, before the gusty winds, before the snowstorm...

before all this weather hit,

I gathered a large bunch of milkweed and brought them into the house.

The milkweed pods were open with their seeds and silken tufts spilling about.

I imagined these little umbrellas escaping all over the house,

but they have stayed in place,

trapped within the stillness of our walls.

Studying these silken umbrellas has gotten me dreaming

 of traveling with them to some warm and magical place!

Frosty

Frosty mornings and pleasant days describe weather in the north woods of late.

For those in the US, I hope the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday 

finds you with much to be thankful for.

Blessings to you!

Ten Million Drops

Mother Nature has been dishing up a variety of weather lately.

We've had rain, fog, frost, and snow.

Today we're back to rain, so I thought I'd share with you ten million raindrops,

 give or take a few thousand.

What does the weather look like in your part of the world?

Wishing you a week filled with variety ~ the good kind!

What you see!

"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see." ~ Henry David Thoreau

I live on an old paved road.

As far as paved roads go, this one is pretty idyllic looking.

A lake flanks each side of the road which is lined with stately conifers 

and overhanging deciduous trees.

Add a couple tiny backwater ponds, which the frogs love, 

and I've got a great place to walk, bike, and photograph.

This old road has been patched many a time,

creating some interesting designs.

In some spots, these patches remind me of elegant oriental writing,

while in other places they look more like the work of a 

paint splattering modern artist!

Are you seeing beyond the obvious today?

Have a wonderful week "seeing".

Asilomar 2014

In June, I talked about teaching textile surface design for Empty Spools Seminars

 at Asilomar in California - here.

Happily, they've asked me to teach again in March of 2014!

I will be teaching fabric faces with embellishment ~ 

more about that when I finish the class sample.

Today, I thought I'd share with you some Lensbaby photos taken in the lodge

 and around the grounds at Asilomar.

Such a beautiful place.

Hope you can join me in 2014.

Wishing you a creative week!

Sailing Away

I'm away from my desk enjoying some family fun.

Wishing you a wonderful week!

Thanks for visiting.

Comments are turned off today.

Autumn Splendor

Autumn looks pretty stunning here in the north woods,

whether dressed in subtle black and white...

or colorful garb.

Her visit always seems too short.

I beg her to linger but, alas she won't listen.

Wishing you splendid autumn days!

Autumn Arabesque

I enjoy the rich colors of autumn as much as the next person but,

I also find beauty in all the dying and dried up plant and leaf forms.

I guess that's kind of a Morticia Adams' view of autumn beauty!

In that vein, here's a fern from our woods ~

Autumn Arabesque.

Hoping your autumn is amazing, whether colorful or quirky!

Dancing

Today, I want to share with you the color and bokeh dancing across my beadwork.

Enjoy!

Wishing you a colorful and creative week!

Time is...

Time is infinite.

In our youth, time stretches out before us like the Dakota plains.

We have time for fun, learning, college, travel, love, and finding a soul mate.

There's time for our first apartment, job, house, baby's first steps, 

friends, creativity, hiking, camping, and more love.

Life rolls on in film, digital pixels, and polaroids, 

as we capture these moments in photos.

Time seems infinite.

Then a dear friend becomes gravely ill.

Time stands still.

The world turns upside down.

Perception changes.

Time is finite.

It is time to live in the moment ~

say "I love you", hug your child, notice the sunrise and sunset,

 soak up the sun's warmth, the color of blooms, and 

the delicate scent on the breeze.

Use that roll of film on the shelf, take that polaroid of your friend,

do the photo shoot you've been planning, finish a creative project...

because time is finite.

We may only have this year, this month, this week,

this day, this moment ~

to enjoy all that is special to us.

Capture and relish today.

Time is finite.

Simple Gifts

Lately, I've received some simple, special gifts.

Glads from a family friend. 

Plus, colorful postcards in the mail.

The later treat was due to Kat Sloma's Liberate your Art Postcard Swap.

How wonderful to find beauty in my mailbox instead of the usual junk mail and bills!

A big thank you to ~

Leigh, Jenny, Sassy, Tonia, Melissa,

and 

Kat Sloma;

 the mastermind and hard worker behind this project.

(links where given)

Hope your week is filled with creativity and simple gifts!

Beautiful Bokeh

Today, I am a guest contributor at the Shutter Sisters site.

Hope you can stop by, say hi, and soak up some bokeh and bling!

I'm also happy to have one of my photos recognized over at
 Darwin Wiggett and Samantha Chrysanthou's blog, oopoomoo.

Wishing those in the USA a wonderful, relaxing Labor Day.

Lily Days

This summer was a banner year for lilies in my garden.

They were plentiful and the deer didn't gobble them up,

as they usually do.

Enjoy..... I certainly did!

How did your garden grow?

Wishing you a creative week, full of growth and good times!